The present invention relates to household cleaning and more particularly, to cleaning of infant feed bottles and similar containers. This invention may also be utilized for cleaning other articles, such as glasses, vases, carafes, and other difficult to clean items.
Every person who has been faced with the problem of thorough cleaning of narrow container, such as baby bottles, glasses, and narrow vases readily recognizes the difficulty of dislodging any dried-up residue in narrow crevices of the container. Another often-encountered problem relates to sanitizing of the container and removing odor-causing bacteria. Sometimes, visually clean articles will continue to carry odors. Such occasions are encountered with flower vases where water became stagnant and microbial activity developed due to plant decomposition.
Infant feeding bottles present a special problem. In many cases, merely cleaning the articles with a soapy cleaning agent is not sufficient since liquid baby food contains fatty liquids and suspended solids, such as cereal. In such cases, the user has to resort to brushes for lifting and removing dried-up solids that deposited on the interior wall of the infant fee bottle. In such cases, special brushes must be used. The abrasive action of the brush helps in removing impurities from the inside of the bottle that cannot be removed by simply agitating cleaning liquid in the bottle.
Many commercially available cleaning products containing soaps have a detergent action for removal of grease and dirt from the surface of various articles. Some of the commercial detergents also claim germicidal action capable of destroying bacteria and other odor-causing organisms on the surfaces of the cleaned articles. While these cleaner may be safe for use of general use articles, it is preferred that baby bottles be cleaned with a safe and effective cleaner that would eliminate pathogenic organisms, while at the same time remove dry and fatty deposits from the walls of the baby bottles.
The present invention contemplates provision of a method of cleaning various articles that may be used in food service, as well as articles that may require scrubbing for removal of impurities adhering to the walls of the articles.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method of cleaning articles used in infant feeding and care.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of cleaning articles using non-toxic composition that cleans surfaces of the article by removing fatty deposits, dirt, and other impurities in an efficient manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of cleaning articles that utilizes an easy to obtain and inexpensive cleaner, while at the same time sanitizing the article.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved through a provision of a method of cleaning interior of a container by using an alkali metal chloride, and more particularly sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is a safe substance; it is used in cooking, as a taste enhancing substance, in food preservation, etc. Sodium chloride is a crystalline substance, it is stable, water-soluble with solubility in water 35.7 g/100 g at 0 degrees Centigrade, with a specific gravity of 2.1-2.6.
When mixed with cold or lukewarm water, sodium chloride does not immediately dissolve. The present invention takes advantage of this phenomenon by providing a method of cleaning articles, such as infant feed bottles, by depositing a pre-determined amount of sodium chloride in the container and then adding a pre-determined amount of water into the container. The container is then vigorously agitated, causing the non-dissolved salt crystals to contact the walls of the bottle and dislodge any impurities that have settled on the walls. At the same time, fatty substances and odor-causing bacteria are removed.
Continuous agitation of the infant feeding bottle will eventually cause substantially all salt to be dissolved. However, it is necessary to continue agitation until this point. The user may then rinse the infant feed bottle and sterilize the bottle in the usual manner.
The same steps are used for cleaning other articles, such as vases, bottles, carafes, etc.
In the preferred embodiment, the ratio of salt to water is 1:1.5-1;2. If desired, one or two drops of food coloring agent may be added to the mixture of salt and water in the container.